Pet Peeve #1

As if the newspapers, TV, blogosphere and airwaves are not already inundated with political ads...now at my work in box? I don't think so. On a daily basis I get political ads or messages sent to me by candidates. My response, "Please do not send political messages to my work email address. It is unprofessional." My message is pretty clear yet leaves the door open for appropriate and professional correspondence.

As a recruiter, I am a specialist in helping others to understand what kinds of communication are considered professional. Just as a reminder, items of a political, religious or personal nature are easy to misinterpret and generally don't represent a dignified professional. Please keep this in mind when communicating with me via email.

Right - but I phrased my message in such a way that it doesn't risk alienating you from your candidate/client. And while you and I understand that those types of communication are completely inappropriate, for whatever reason well-meaning people sometimes lapse into it, generally because they have become motivated by something they feel strongly about.

Bottom line - I try to be firm without being a jerk :)

My former bosses wife used to send me political crap daily - and I am a member of a completely different political party, but rather than risk alienating her I made a joke about it so she got the point.